• (All Scripture references are from the New King James Bible)

I. Proverbs 29:18, Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.

It is necessary to have a vision for your life and for your church. Write it down and make it plain. It must contain at least five elements.

A. Personal and phenomenal. Dan 10:7-9, And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength.

 B. Understandable. Dan 7:15, I, Daniel was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:

 C. Authenticated by divine glory. Ezekiel 8:1-4, And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire–from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, like the color of amber. He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain.

 D. Prophetic. Dan. 9:23-24, At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision: Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for you holy city, to finish the transgression, to make and end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy.

 E. Dated and localized. Ezekiel 1:1-3, Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

 II. Vision will produce:

A. Guidance. Gen. 46:2-5, Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!’ And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. “I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.” Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives in the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

 B. Direction. Acts 16:9-10, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

 C. Encouragement. Acts 18:9-10, Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you , and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.”

 D. Warning. Isaiah 21:2-6, A distressing vision is declared to me; the treacherous dealer deals treacherously, and the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Medial! All its sighing I have made to cease. Therefore my loins are filled with pain; Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. I was distressed when I heard it; I was dismayed when I saw it. My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me; The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me. Prepare the table, Set a watchman in the tower, Eat and drink. Arise, you prices, Anoint the shield!

 E. Judgment. I Sam. 3:11-13, Then the Lord said to Samuel: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them.

 F. Action for the Lord. Acts 26:19-20, Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

 III. Motivating.

A. Vision will motivate you in times of discouragement. Vision is the destination and the goals and plans on how to get there. Each week should be listed with items of things to do in order to attain your vision. As you do each thing check it off. When discouragement comes (and it always does) you can look at all those check marks and see all the progress already made. It will encourage you to go on.

B. Sometimes your destination will change. You don’t have to go back to the beginning and start over. You simply start the change of direction from where you are. If you were reading a road map to go visit someone and you received a call that they were in a different location, you wouldn’t go all the way back home and start over. You would look at your map from where you are and plan a new route.

C. Vision should be ever enlarging and evolving. God wants us to achieve His purposes. He chooses to give us vision and to continue to add to that vision as we progress. Where does God want you to go? What does He want you to do? That is your vision.

D. Your vision should always fit with the vision of the church. One will enhance the other. God gives each of us our part and when all the parts come together, we’ll find Kingdom.